A Clash Of Young Titans

The battle began with Hu Jin Shen immediately going on the offensive. He swung left, right, uppercut again and again. However his opponent Li Changseng was able to consistently dodge the princes strikes and even redirect a few by guiding Jin Shen's gauntlet's with his sword.

To the observing spectators, Li Changseng was elegantly avoiding the bestial ferocious Hu Jin Shen. In truth Li Changseng had to avoid those strikes. Despite his lower cultivation Hu Jin Shen's attacking power was immense. Each of his strikes would've done a lot of damage if they'd impacted Li Changseng.

Changseng was a sword cultivator first, he did not invest into body cultivation. The prince on the other hand was a trained martial arts fighter specialised in using his fists. Ever since his youth his father had approached Lao Fu in training his son with strong body techniques.

Although Hu Jin Shen's body was weaker then the average buddhist monk, it was easily comparable to a demon's true body. However there was a big difference between a body's toughness and the physical strength it can exert. A buddhist monk was very hard to damage but an immortal with strength related techniques could hit much harder. Of course that wasn't to say buddhists were physically weak, they were recognised as having the second greatest strength art right after demons.

Hu Jin Shen's physical strength had been refined by the blood of a Demonic Saint realm wolf that was previously slain by his father in a distant solar system. Its body was brought back and its blood was give to Hu Jin Shen. While Hu Jin Shen was primarily an immortal, he does posses the qualities of a demon.

Of course the two paths are very similar in the first place. During the primordial era the many demons races were the first lifeforms born in the world. It was only later that the three pure ones created immortal cultivation. At the time, the divine cultivation method was already dying out and demons cultivation were reliant on strong bloodlines. The new addition of immortal cultivation allowed for less fortunate races such as humans, elves, dwarves etc to cultivate.

In the current era immortal cultivation was the mainstream method no matter which galaxy you're in. The taoist court even still controlled the heavens.

For Li Changseng who was a pure immortal cultivator specialising in the sword, he had to attack to win. However Hu Jin Shen was proving to be very fast. Seeing as he had little choice, Changseng chose the most primal method available to him.

Within his body, Changseng's Qi surged and sent a wave of power that pushed Hu Jin Shen back. This was the difference 3 extra heavenly meridians could make. Li Changseng was able to channel slightly more amounts of Immortal Qi and pushed Jin Shen back by force.

With this Changseng went on the offensive. Strike after strike, Changseng's strikes were fast and aimed at vital points. Hu Jin Shen attempted to avoid them but the momentum generated by Changseng proved too much.

Hu Jin Shen had to activate a body strengthening technique to tank the damage. Even with this Changseng's slashes still nicked his skin. This was the canine steel fur technique. All around Jin Shen's body, strands of silver fur appeared to defend his body.

"So this the famous zodiac 12 beast arts. It won't save you" smirked Li Changseng as we raised his sword which glowed in translucent green energy. If it was even possible Changseng's strikes became even faster and cut deeper.

Not to be distracted, Hu Jin Shen observed Changseng's movements. They were fast but not to the extent he cannot see them. 'His strikes are laced with Metal Qi, but I think I've got his rhythm down'. Suddenly Jin Shen punched downwards craving the arena, this sent several slabs of stone tiles to fly up. With a second punch he sent the tiles at Changseng, these tiles transformed into stone wolves but were quickly hacked apart.

Li Changseng then rushed towards Jin Shen preparing to strike him with an overhead slash. However Jin Shen already saw it coming and deflected the blade with one gauntlet while the second punched to wards him. Jin Shen's gauntlet's were medium grade Sacred Artefacts, they were very powerful much more so then Changseng's low grade Sacred Artefact sword. This was the difference in wealth between the emperor and a kingdom even a strong one.

CLANG!

But, Li Changseng danced to the flow of the wind and twirled around. He activated his own sword art "Mystic evening light sword". His sword glowed with faint lunar light and struck Hu Jin Shen's punch. This clash sent both combatants back.

In the VIP lounge Qiang Mei Hua was gripping her seat in anxiety. Next to her Hu Wenxi was silently observing Jin Shen's performance. His use of the 'canine steel fur' technique was appropriate. It was a misconception however that it is a defensive technique. In actuality it was meant to give the body qualities of a wolf and its original name was 'Zodiac Canine Body'. Jin Shen's was an incomplete technique but since he adventured a lot this misinformation spread.

The Zodiac 12 arts are original creations by Wenxi as part of his Tao. To date he has never used all 12 in combat and would prefer to keep it that way. Hu Jin Shen was still too weak to cultivate even one of the Zodiac. Most of his spells and techniques were derivatives.

Although both combatants were dazed they soon entered into melee once more. This time Li Changseng immediately went on the offensive putting heavy pressure on Hu Jin Shen. Whenever Hu Jin Shen tried to dash away Changseng went after him.

Li Changseng was fast, he may not be fast enough to run circles around the prince but he was slowly overwhelming him. The numerous sword strikes backed by lunar radiance and fuelled by metal Qi injured the prince. For now Hu Jin Shen can keep up but not for long.

It was then that something unexpected happened, Hu Jin Shen punched both his gauntlets off and shot them at Li Changseng. The speed shocked him and resembled missiles, the faint image of a charging bull can be seen behind both gauntlets. While one missed the other hit him square on the chest. "GAH" Li Changseng spat out blood and felt his ribs crack. It was as if a bull in full charge had rammed into him. He immediately cycled his Qi to begin healing but the damage was done.

However Li Changseng will not go down easily. His sword flew out of his hand and flew at Hu Jin Shen. Similar to Bai San Li Changseng could mentally command his sword. Its speed was on slower then himself but it would get the job done.

In response Hu Jin Shen activated another technique or in this case two techniques in unison. His facial features gained a wolf like appearance and his body danced around the sword. His movements were swift and fluid resembling that of a snake dancing around the numerous sword strikes.

Li Changseng's sword kept swinging backhand forth however Jin Shen's ability to avoid them was exceptional. What's more was that he was even beginning to advance on Changseng. Li Changseng knew his body very well, he knew he could only sustain a couple more hits before he was down. However he also knew the gauntlet throw earlier was a technique so Jin Shen likely did not posses that much power naturally.

Finally Jin Shen was within range of Li Changseng, both of his fists lit up in thick bluish purple flames resembling that of growling wolf heads. The first strike aimed at Changseng head but he dodged and used his left hand to guide the fist attempting to judo throw Hu Jin Shen. Hu Jin Shen was of a similar build to Li Changseng only slightly taller and muscular both being fit young men. Jin Shen quickly caught on to Changseng's actions and rammed his knee into Changseng's side causing both of them to barrel onto the ground.

They both quickly got up and Jin Shen went on the offensive throwing several punches at the injured Changseng. In response Li Changseng cycled metal Qi into his fingers and used them as duel blades to cut at Jin Shen. This back and forth went on for a little while longer until Hu Jin Shen managed to grab Changseng's hands and held him in place. With one knee he kicked Changseng in the stomach causing him to throw up saliva.

Behind Jin Shen, Changseng's sword came rocketing back. Without the distraction of the high speed melee, Changseng was able to control the sword with more clarity again. He manipulated the sword and wrapped it in metal Qi and shot it at Hu Jin Shen's exposed back.

Hu Jin Shen was forced to let go and dodge how ever his side still got cut. This time it was a more serious wound. With sword in hand Li Changseng once again slashed at Hu Jin Shen's chest and this time with the addition of his sword art, 'Holy Evening Slash' he broke through Hu Jin Shen's defences and left a deep cut along Jin Shen's chest cutting right through his clothing.

In the VIP lounge Qiang Mei Hua's heart raced. Hu Wenxi gently grabbed her hand and said, "relax". She replied "He's going to lose". Hu Wenxi nodded his head, "Li Changseng is both older and has a higher cultivation, this sort of thing is natural".

To the side of the VIP lounge, Li Guxie smirked in happiness. The advancement of Hu Jin Shen to 3 meridian Crossing Tribulation was unexpected but Li Chanseng can still win this. And she was right, Hu Jin Shen was on his knees after several more cuts. At this sight Qiang Mei Hua sent a mental transmission to her son, "End this, don't give yourself unnecessary injuries".

"I can still go on mother" Hu Jin Shen gritted his teeth and went for a low sweep catching Luo Changseng off guard. As he fell Hu Jin Shen immediately sent an uppercut to his face which sent Changseng flying his handsome face bloodied. In his heart Hu Jin Shen smiled in satisfaction, 'that guy was always too smug'.

The crowd cheered on and clapped at this exiting battle. Unlike Sam's fights which were mostly flashy one shots, the prince's fight was a clash of equal titans. To the saints watching they wondered how strong would be when he reached 6 meridians, when that happened Luo Changseng stood no chance.

In the seats Sam frowned at annoyance at Hu Jin Shen's fight getting more cheers then his. Yun Xiao Che didn't really mind, in fact he respected both fighters for their ability. Yun Xiao Che was a very prideful man so for him to admit this to himself spoke volumes of both fighters.

On the battlefield Hu Jin Shen was nearing his limit, he could feel his energy running low. As such he got into a stance and his hands lit up in bluish purple flames again. This time the flames grew larger and he focused everything into his right hand before punching out.

"Lobo destruction flash fist"

The flames took the true form of a massive wolf a dozen meters in length. It crossed the distance near instantly and was going to strike Li Changseng directly. However Li Changseng did not falter but instead put a large majority of his remaining Qi into his sword, his storage of metal Qi was about used up but it did the job. Lunar radiance covered his sword and an image of the moon appeared before him.

Li Changseng slashed at the moon splitting it in two, this sent a torrent of lunar energy the shape of a vertical wide arc and cleaved right through the wolf and targeted Hu Jin Shen.

Before it reached him however taoist Infinity Heaven stepped in and nullified that attack. Hu Wei announced Hu Jin Shen's victory and Li Changseng's passage to the semi finals. Following this Qiang Mei Hua instantly teleported to her son's side and carried him to safety. Li Guxie did the same to her 'nephew'.

To Hu Wenxi, his son's battle prowess was exceptional. The gulf he had to overcome in order to fight Li Changseng was extraordinary. Li Changseng was at the tippy top of 6 meridian Crossing Tribulation cultivators, it's very likely he was already ably to challenge the 7th tribulation. The first 6 tribulations are referred to as the minor 54 bolts while the final 6 are the major 54 bolts. If you cross the 7th tribulations then you gain the honour of being addressed as a minor saint. Of course these were just fancy titles. However the difference in address should tell you the gulf between them.